Hand-held swimming pool vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

Various aspects of the present disclosure are directed to swimming pool vacuum cleaners. In one example embodiment, the pool vacuum cleaner includes a main body having a housing with an impeller driven by an electric motor, an inlet opening in a bottom region of the housing, and an outlet opening on an outlet side of the housing. The vacuum cleaner further includes a collecting container receptacle that accommodates a collecting container arranged in the region of the outlet opening, a rod receptacle releasably connected to a guide rod arranged in the region of the outlet side, and a guide fork pivotably connected to the housing about a pivot axis. The rod receptacle arranged on the guide fork. The pivot axis is arranged at a distance from a center of mass of the main body, and the center of mass is arranged between the pivot axis and the outlet opening.

The invention relates to a hand-guided swimming pool vacuum cleanercomprising a main body having a housing with an impeller which can bedriven via an electric motor, which housing has an inlet opening in abottom region and an outlet opening on an outlet side, wherein acollecting container receptacle for accommodating a collecting containeris arranged in the region of the outlet opening, and wherein a rodreceptacle for releasable connection to a guide rod is arranged in theregion of the outlet side.

Furthermore, from EP 2 989 270 B1 a hand-guided swimming pool vacuumcleaner is known, the housing of which has a lateral outlet opening towhich a collection container for dirt is connected. Above the outletopening, the housing has a rigid receptacle for a guide rod.

Rigid, i.e. non-pivoting guide rods have the disadvantage that whenguiding the swimming pool vacuum cleaner at the bottom of the swimmingpool, the housing may tip over, which has a negative effect on thecleaning function. Furthermore, if the swimming pool vacuum cleaner ishandled incorrectly—for example, when moving the swimming pool vacuumcleaner while the impeller is stationary and/or when lifting theswimming pool vacuum cleaner out of the water—back-soiling from thecollection container cannot be ruled out.

U.S. Pat. No. 10,704,282 B2 discloses a hand-guided swimming pool vacuumcleaner in which a connecting fork of a guide rod is connected in ahinged manner to the housing.

Similar pool cleaners are known from publications FR 2 430 494 A1, FR 3080 879 A1 or ES 1 047 768 U.

It is the object of the invention to reliably prevent back-soiling in aswimming pool vacuum cleaner of the type mentioned at the beginning, inparticular when removing it from the swimming pool.

According to the invention, this is achieved in that the rod receptacleis arranged on a guide fork which is pivotably connected to the housingabout a pivot axis, wherein the pivot axis—as viewed in plan view—isarranged at a distance from a center of mass of the swimming pool vacuumcleaner, wherein the center of mass is arranged between the pivot axisand the outlet opening.

The center of mass is thus arranged on a side facing the outlet side ofa plateau of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner containing the pivot axis.

Due to the position of the center of mass between the pivot axis and theoutlet opening, the housing—as soon as the swimming pool vacuum cleaneris raised with the guide rod—is pivoted by gravity in relation to theguide fork in such a way that the outlet opening together with thecollection container comes to rest at the lowest point. This effectivelyprevents dirt particles from the collection tank from flowing back intothe swimming pool. Another effect of the pivotable guide fork is thatduring the guide movement the bottom area is guided parallel to the poolfloor and tilting movements are avoided. The cleaning effect can thus beincreased.

A robust connection between the guide fork and the housing is achievedif the housing and the guide fork are pivotably connected to one anothervia two pivot bearings spaced apart from one another, wherein each pivotbearing has a bearing journal and a bearing bore rotatably accommodatingthe bearing journal, wherein in particular at least one bearing journalis formed by the housing and at least one bearing bore is formed by theguide fork. In order to enable stable guidance of the swimming poolvacuum cleaner, it is advantageous if the two pivot bearings arearranged on side walls of the housing facing away from one another,wherein the distance between the two pivot bearings preferablycorresponds at least to the—in particular largest—diameter of the, forexample, circular inlet opening.

In one embodiment variant of the invention, it is provided that theguide fork has a defined pivoting range, wherein at least one endposition of the pivoting range is defined by at least one stop,preferably arranged on the housing, for a projection corresponding tothis stop.

One embodiment according to the invention provides that at least onepreferably pin-like projection is formed by the guide fork and at leastone stop is formed by the housing. Alternatively or additionally, it canbe provided that at least one preferably pin-like projection is formedby the housing and at least one stop is formed by the guide fork.

In an embodiment of the invention that is simple to manufacture, it isprovided that at least one stop is formed by a guide rail, wherein theprojection is guided in or on the guide rail. The guide rail can beformed, for example, by an integrally formed strip.

To avoid uncontrolled pivoting movements, it is advantageous if thepivoting range is about 60° to 120°±10°, preferably 90°±10°.

Preferably, the housing has at least one bearing journal and the guidefork has at least one bearing bore, wherein the guide fork is arrangedwith the bearing bore on the bearing journal so as to be rotatable aboutthe latter. This enables secure fastening of the guide fork to thehousing and simple assembly.

In one embodiment variant of the invention, it is provided that the rodreceptacle has a preferably cylindrical journal for accommodating atubular guide rod. In particular, it is provided within the scope of theinvention that the journal has at least one bore extending transverselyto the longitudinal axis of the rod receptacle for accommodating anelastic latching element. This enables simple and safe assembly anddisassembly of the guide rod on the guide fork.

Preferably, it is provided that the rod receptacle is operationallyarranged in the area of the outlet side of the housing.

The guide fork and/or the housing can be made of plastic, for example.

The invention is explained in more detail below with reference to thenon-limiting exemplary embodiment shown in the figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 shows an axonometric view of a swimming pool vacuum cleaneraccording to the invention;

FIG. 2 shows the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a plan view;

FIG. 3 shows the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a bottom view;

FIG. 4 shows the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a front view;

FIG. 5 shows the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a side view;

FIG. 6 shows a bottom view of the housing of the swimming pool vacuumcleaner;

FIG. 7 shows the housing of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a topview;

FIG. 8 shows the housing of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in anoutlet-side view;

FIG. 9 shows the housing of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in a sideview;

FIG. 10 shows the housing of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in anaxonometric view;

FIG. 11 shows the housing of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in afurther axonometric view;

FIG. 12 shows a guide fork of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in anaxonometric view;

FIG. 13 shows the guide fork of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner inanother axonometric view;

FIG. 14 shows the guide fork of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner in aside view; and

FIG. 15 shows the guide fork of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner inanother axonometric view.

The swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 shown in FIGS. 1 to 5 has a main body2 having a housing 3, a cover part 4 and a suction mouth part 5. Anelectric motor, which is not shown in closer detail, and an impeller 6driven by the electric motor, which is designed as an axial impeller,are arranged inside the housing 3 (FIG. 3 ). The electric motor ispowered, for example, by a rechargeable battery not shown further, whichis arranged in a sealed space of the housing 2 below the cover part 5.The impeller axis oriented normal to a contact surface during operationis designated with reference sign 6 a. The contact surface is formed,for example, by a swimming pool floor.

The housing 2 has a bottom area 7 with an inlet opening 8 and an outletside 9 with a lateral outlet opening 10. The impeller 6 is arrangedimmediately downstream of the inlet opening 8 in the housing 2 toachieve a high cleaning effect. The cross-sectional area 10 a of theoutlet opening 10 is formed transversely, for example approximatelynormal to the cross-sectional area 8 a of the inlet opening 8 (see FIG.9 ). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 5 , a plate-shapedsuction mouth part 11 is arranged below the inlet opening 8, wherein thesuction mouth part 5 has contact elements 11 formed by brushes, forexample, which define a contact plane 11 a of the swimming pool vacuumcleaner 1.

The impeller 6 draws in water through the suction mouth part 11 and theinlet opening 8 of the housing 2 and conveys it according to the arrowsP to the lateral outlet opening 10 (FIG. 1 and FIG. 5 ). The lateraloutlet opening 10 has a collection container receptacle 12 which isformed, for example, by a raised circumferential rim, bead or flange fora collection container not shown further, which can be formed, forexample, by a filter bag. The lateral outlet opening 10 with the flowoutlet axis 10 b formed perpendicular to the impeller axis 6 a has theadvantage that the contaminants remain in the collection container whenthe electric motor is switched off and it is more difficult for them toseep back into the swimming pool.

The swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 can be guided along the bottom of theswimming pool by means of a guide rod 13 indicated by dashed lines inFIG. 1 . The guide rod 13 is firmly connected to the swimming poolvacuum cleaner 1 via a guide fork 14. The guide fork 14 has two forkarms 14 a, 14 b, wherein each fork arm 14 a, 14 b is connected to thehousing 3 via a respective pivot bearing 15 so as to be pivotable abouta pivot axis 15 a. The pivot axis 15 a is arranged as close as possibleto the contact plane 11 a. In the exemplary embodiment, the distancebetween the pivot axis 15 a and the contact plane 11 a, denoted by h, isless than half the diameter D of the inlet opening 8. This enablessimple guidance of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 along the contactsurface formed by the bottom of the swimming pool. This allows for easyguidance of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 along the contact surfaceformed by the bottom of the swimming pool. The pivot bearings 15 eachconsist of a bearing bore 16 and a bearing journal 17, which ispivotally disposed in the bearing bore 16. For example, the bearingbores 16 are formed by the guide fork 14 and the bearing pins 17 areformed by the housing 3. The pivot bearings 15 have a defined pivotingrange 13 between two end positions of, for example, 60° to 120°±10°, inparticular 90°±10° (FIG. 9 ).

The end positions are defined in each case by two interacting elements,for example a pin-like projection 18, which interacts with stops A, B.In the exemplary embodiment, the stops are formed by a guide rail 19 inor along which the projection 18 is guided. The guide rail 19 is formed,for example, by an integrally formed strip of a guide rail 19 which isformed, for example, by an integrally formed strip. The guide rail 19 issubstantially formed as a circular arc segment around the pivot axis 15a. A first end position is defined by a first stop A and a second endposition by a second stop B of the guide rail 19. In the exemplaryembodiment, the stops A, B are formed as radial deflections in the endregions of the guide rail 19. The pin-like projection 18 is formed bythe guide fork 14 (FIG. 12 to FIG. 15 ) and the guide rail 19 by thehousing 3 (FIG. 9 , FIG. 11 ) in the illustrated exemplary embodiment.

At an end facing away from the bearing bores 16 of the pivot bearings15, the guide fork 14 has, for example, a cylindrical pin-like rodreceptacle 20 for the tubular guide rod 13. The, for example, pin-likerod receptacle 20 has at least one recess 21 extending transversely tothe longitudinal axis 20 a of the rod receptacle 20 for accommodating anelastic latching element 22.

The main body 2 contains all elements of the swimming pool vacuumcleaner 1 with the exception of the guide fork 14 required for manualguidance and the guide rod 13 which can be attached to it. The swimmingpool vacuum cleaner 1 thus consists of the main body 2 and the guidefork 13.

As shown in particular in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7 , the pivot axis 15 a isspaced from a center of mass S of the main body 2 of the swimming poolvacuum cleaner 1—as seen in plan view—with the center of mass S of themain body 2 being considered without guide rod 13 and without guide fork13. The distance between the pivot axis S and the center of mass S isdenoted by reference sign a. In detail, the center of mass S—as viewedin plan view—is located between the pivot axis 15 a and the outletopening 10. The center of mass S is thus located on a side facing theoutlet opening 10 of a first plateau ε of the swimming pool vacuumcleaner 1 containing the pivot axis 15 a.

In other words, the first plateau ε of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner1 is distant from a second plateau η extending through the center ofmass S and parallel to the first plateau ε by the distance a. The firstplateau ε and the second plateau η are thereby arranged perpendicular tothe cross-sectional area 8 a of the inlet opening 8 (FIG. 5 , FIG. 6 ,FIG. 7 , FIG. 9 ).

Because the center of mass S of the main body 2 of the swimming poolvacuum cleaner 1 is arranged between the plateau ε extending through thepivot axis 15 a and the outlet opening 10, there is a tilting movementof the main body 2 of the swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 about the pivotaxis 15 a as soon as the swimming pool vacuum cleaner 1 is lifted fromthe contact surface G formed by the floor of the swimming pool. In theprocess, the outlet opening 10—together with the collection containerattached to it—tilts downward, as indicated by the arrow K in FIG. 1 .The tilting movement causes the outlet opening 10 to move downward andthe container opening—not shown further—of the collection containerconnected to the outlet opening 10 is thus directed upward, reliablypreventing dirt particles from falling out of or seeping back into theswimming pool from the collection container.

A particularly stable connection between the guide fork 14 and thehousing 3 can be achieved if the pivot bearings 15 are arranged as farapart as possible. The two pivot bearings 15 are therefore arranged ontwo sides 3 a, 3 b of the housing 3 facing away from each other in theillustrated exemplary embodiment. The distance b between the two pivotbearings 15 corresponds at least to the diameter D of the, inparticular, circular inlet opening 8 (FIG. 6 ). The two arms 14 a, 14 bof the guide fork 14 thus enclose the housing 3 in the area of the inletopening 8. This allows safe and precise lateral guidance of the swimmingpool vacuum cleaner 1 by the guide rod 13.

1. Hand-guided swimming pool vacuum cleaner comprising: a main bodyhaving a housing with an impeller configured and arranged to be drivenby an electric motor, an inlet opening in a bottom region of thehousing; an outlet opening on an outlet side of the housing; acollecting container receptacle configured to accommodate a collectingcontainer is arranged in the region of the outlet opening; a rodreceptacle configured to releasably connect to a guide rod is arrangedin the region of the outlet side, and a guide fork pivotably connectedto the housing about a pivot axis, where the rod receptacle is arrangedon the guide fork, and wherein—as viewed in plan view—the pivot axis isarranged at a distance from a center of mass of the main body, whereinthe center of mass is arranged between the pivot axis and the outletopening.
 2. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 1, characterizedin that the housing and the guide fork are pivotably connected to oneanother via two pivot bearings spaced apart from one another, whereineach of the two pivot bearings includes a bearing journal and a bearingbore rotatably accommodating the bearing journal.
 3. The swimming poolvacuum cleaner of claim 2, characterized in that the two pivot bearingsare arranged on side walls of the housing facing away from one another.4. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 1, characterized in thatthe guide fork has a defined pivoting range, wherein at least one endposition of the pivoting range is defined by at least one stop for acorresponding projection.
 5. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim4, characterized in that the corresponding projection is formed by theguide fork and the at least one stop is formed by the housing.
 6. Theswimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 4, characterized in that thecorresponding projection is formed by the housing and the at least onestop is formed by the guide fork.
 7. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner ofclaim 4, characterized in that the at least one stop (A, B) is formed bya guide rail, wherein the corresponding projection is configured andarranged to be guided in or on the guide rail.
 8. The swimming poolvacuum cleaner of claim 4, characterized in that the pivoting rangeabout 60° to 120°±10°.
 9. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 1,wherein the rod receptacle includes a cylindrical pin configured andarranged for accommodating the guide rod, and wherein the guide rod istubular.
 10. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 1, characterizedin that the rod receptacle has at least one recess extendingtransversely to a longitudinal axis of the rod receptacle, the at leastone recess configured and arranged for accommodating an elastic latchingelement.
 11. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 1, characterizedin that the rod receptacle is arranged operationally in the region ofthe outlet side of the housing.
 12. The swimming pool vacuum cleaneraccording to claim 1, characterized in that the guide fork and/or thehousing are made of plastic.
 13. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner ofclaim 2, wherein at least one bearing journal of the two pivot bearingsis formed by the housing and at least one bearing bore of the two pivotbearings is formed by the guide fork.
 14. The swimming pool vacuumcleaner of claim 3, wherein the distance between the two pivot bearingscorresponds at least the diameter of the inlet opening.
 15. The swimmingpool vacuum cleaner of claim 5, characterized in that the correspondingprojection is pin-like.
 16. The swimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 6,characterized in that the corresponding projection is pin-like.
 17. Theswimming pool vacuum cleaner of claim 4, characterized in that thepivoting range is 90°±10°.